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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Busy, like a, whataya call it? That rat thing with the flat tail. Like's trees. Buck teeth. Busy like one of those.

By George and Bob-howdy, I have been keeping busy! You won't hear me complain (unless I'm complaining, that is), but man ALIVE! Here are the highlights from the last eight-to-ten weeks.

My good friend Joel was lucky enough to marry a lovely wife, who later brought along a sweet daughter. With Joel's birthday and Father's day fast approaching, Erin asked me to make this, which turned out lovely. That's Grace up on his shoulders, and everything was going great until I mailed it.

See, all of the zip codes in Lawrence, Kansas (where I used to live) go 606**, whereas all of the Chicago zips go 660**. I'm a feeble-minded young man, so I'll leave you to put the puzzle together and guess how I DERAILED a nice gifting experience. It took about two months to straighten itself out, and happened to get delivered while I was having a beer with Joel himself, in Kansas, just a few miles from his home. I could have biked it there faster! But it got there, and he loved it. FTW!

Then, of course, there is this one. I'll keep it short: He hated it. End of story.

I never heard if he went through with using these dolls as a vehicle for a marriage proposal, which was their intent. Custom artwork can be tricky, and I am more than pleased to say this is my second (#2) dissatisfied customer EVER. In the end, his dissatisfaction had to do with the likeness, in that they looked old and fat, which, you see, nesting dolls, their general shape is... Oh, well.

Back to happy! These kids turned out to love their portrait, all suited up to fight crime. It was a gift for the oldest childs' birthday (he's batman, there in the middle). The parents and kids were all very happy with it, I am pleased to share.

Next came the singularly most random and fun-to-paint wedding invitation OF ALL TIME. What you see here is the result of a request for a wedding invitation image that was to encompass, and I am quoting here, "mummies, sarcophagi, a T-Rex named Ivan, shrunken heads, the Berlin wall, something from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, the two grooms, and (their) cat, Carrie Fisher."

Basically, awesome. They loved it, and I wish them a long and happy marriage! You may recognize the fellows and their cat from a previous post, in which they were made into little, adorable peg people.

MUNCHIE! He's into adventures, apparently, which are chronicled verbally by my friend John and his wife, for whom this was a gift. We are all curious, John, and when the time comes, I expect to be considered for the illustration half of the award winning children's book.

MASKS! On toddlers! So very cute.

These were commissioned as take-away party favors for a very special fourth birthday party. They were a hit!

There was also a fox mask, which I somehow managed not to photograph. So cute!

I made this elephant last night! I think I'll be pumping a few out to try to unload at Renegade Craft Fair, which I will again be participating in! Oh, boy, so much to do.

This giraffe happened today, and they are great friends, he and the elephant. I know because they TOLD ME. I need to sleep.

Oh no they're CONSPIRING AGAINST ME! Sorry for the 'instagramminess' of some of these photos, I try not to use them outside of the 'gram itself, but it had to happen if I wanted to get this up tonight.

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Benjamin RumbackAn emerging artist in the neighborhood of Lincoln Square, in the city of Chicago, in the state of Illinois, which is part of the United States of America and the world at large... located in the milky-way galaxy in the universe.